Athletes

Country

Sport

Name

Gabby Douglas

Country: United States

Sport: Gymnastics

Height: 4'11"
/ 1.50m

Weight: 90 lbs
/ 40.8 kg

Born: 12/31/1995

Hometown: Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Career Highlights: The “Flying Squirrel” became the latest U.S. Olympic gymnastics star in London, helping the Americans win the team all-around gold and then taking the individual all-around title over Russia's Viktoria Komova. The 16-year-old Douglas is the first African-American woman to win gymnastics' biggest prize. "I don't ever recall anybody this quickly rising from an average good gymnast to a fantastic one," U.S. team coordinator Martha Karolyi said. "She's just so much a nice girl and so hardworking and dedicated. ... She just loves gymnastics and she really loves to be on the top." Douglas served notice of her rise when she upset reigning world champion Jordyn Wieber to win the all-around at the U.S. trials, also besting Wieber in posting the highest score in March at the American Cup, where she was competing as an alternate. With a performance at the trials that highlighted her grace - along with the athleticism that was the genesis of the colorful nickname given to her by Karolyi - Douglas established herself as the gymnast to beat in London, then handled the pressure and lived up to that billing. She finished with a score of 62.232 at the Olympics, just ahead of Komova's 61.973. Douglas was also a part of the gold medal-winning team that beat Russia and China at the 2011 world championships, and she’s a six-time gold medalist in senior level competition. Douglas moved to West Des Moines, Iowa, when she was 14 to train with Liang Chow, the coach of 2008 Olympic balance beam champion Shawn Johnson.